Leading up to the May 1 deadline for contract changes, issuers continued to tinker with every aspect of their contracts--to reduce overall risk and to align their compensation formulas with advisor preferences.

The Social Security and Disability Insurance trust funds may be a figment of accounting, but the funds' trustees continue to calculate the changes in payroll tax rates and/or benefit levels that would keep the funds solvent until the last surviving Boomer reaches age 121.

The growth of emerging-market firms in global investment and finance will bring "the sort of multilateral framework for regulating cross-border investment that has been derailed several times since the 1920s," the bank's report said.

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Retirement Income Journal is a weekly, digital-only business-to-business news publication and website for life insurers, asset managers, financial advisors, academics, attorneys, regulators and technology firms worldwide whose products and services help Baby Boomers convert their savings to lifetime income. Established in 2009 and produced by "Annuities for Dummies" author Kerry Pechter, it reaches 7,000 online readers 48 times a year.